Philips DVDR3390 DVD Player/Recorder w/ DivX

by Philips

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 17.1 x 1.7 inches ; 6.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 12 pounds
• ASIN: B000KAIZ8E
• Item model number: DVDR3390
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,490 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 2, 2006

Product Description

PHILIPS DVD PLAYER/RECORDER FAST AND SIMPLE DVD RECORDING! Experience the convenience of fast and easy DVD recording with the Philips® DVDR3390 DVD Player/Recorder. Play and record what you want when you want with superior audio and video quality. This recorder supports dual media recording allowing you to create recordings on + and - discs (DVD+R/+RW/-R/-RW). Play your favorite movies or MP3s, or view your jpeg slide show from DVD, CD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW and (S)VCD. The DVDR3390 recorder will always create compatible recordings on any disc which can be played by any DVD player. Special SmartAlgo feature ensures quality recordings, regardless of disc format or quality. DivX technology allows long video segments to be compressed while still retaining high visual quality. Progressive scan provides razor sharp and flicker-free images. The VCR Plus+ feature uses a single code to program the timer. Also known as IEEE 1394 and FireWire, i.Link enables perfect digital camcorder copies in their original digital picture quality. The easy-to-use graphic interface makes it simple for anyone to operate this recorder. Features: Dual Media records on both DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW Plays CD, (S)VCD, DVD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW Plays MP3, JPEG, DivX VCR Plus+ for quick and easy programming i.LINK digital input for perfect digital camcorder copies Recording system: NTSC, PAL Recording modes: High Quality (HQ), Standard Play (SP), Extended Play (EP), Super Long Play (SLP) Recording enhancements: Auto chapter marking, manual chapter marking, selectable index pictures Compression formats: MPEG2, MPEG1, DivX 3.11, DivX 6.0, DivX 4.x, DivX 5.x TV system: NTSC

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Multifunction DVD Recorder, April 5, 2008

By 

Panther 37 "Matt" (Melbourne, FL United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Philips DVDR3390 DVD Player/Recorder w/ DivX (Electronics)

THIRD UPDATE: Upgrade the firmware and software and it will work fine.
How-to update: http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/d/dvdr3390_37/dvdr3390_37_fur_eng.pdf
The files: http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/d/dvdr3390_37/dvdr3390_37_fus_eng.zip
If you end up with any discs that it won't close or it has errors while closing, just use ISOBuster.

UPDATE: The laser has a very poor error tolerance. DVDs must be in PERFECT condition for playback and recording. Mine has some tolerance with the first half of a DVD but the second half must be flawless.

I've made about a dozen DVDs with this DVDR. All of them were to get shows off of my DVR. I haven't tried recording scheduled shows. Using the S-Video input works great and looks sharp. I haven't used the firewire input yet but I plan on it working out well. The DVDR makes a nice menu for your recorded shows and auto inserts chapters. The auto chapter tends to insert chapters when the video is quiet, or after a certain period of time (10 minutes or less.) If you want you can put in your own chapters too. You can also specify a picture from the show for display on the menu, so there is a picture and a title of the track. I'm also quite happy with the editing option available for using a DVD-R or DVD+R. There are more editing options if you use a DVD-RW. It also plays NTSC and PAL. I'm guessing it also plays NTSC and PAL variants too.

Disappointments: I recorded a disc that had an error on it. There was a defect on the DVD itself. Because of this, the DVDR was unable to close the disc. I can still play it on the DVDR but another DVD player and even my computer cannot recognize the DVD. When editing the DVD you cannot use any of the play functions like fast-forward, rewind, pause, etc. You have to re-load the disc to get out of editing mode to use those functions again. CANNOT record onto dual layer discs. Records onto single layer 4.7gb only. The remote control buttons could have been thought out better.

Conclusion: I was looking for a DVDR that had an S-Video input so I could get videos from my cable DVR to my computer and DivX. I got a DVDR that could also record from my MiniDV camcorder and a whole lot of functionality. INCLUDING DivX playback which is AWESOME.

Extra info, a.k.a SECOND UPDATE: Unit will use a PATA aftermarket DVD burner designed for a desktop computer. The drive unit can be connected to a computer as well even though it doesn't have an eject button. The aftermarket DVD burner I used (Lite-On) was unable to close any discs.

Bottom Line: Great idea, I wish I didn't have to flash it to get it to work.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cost-efficient way of transferring programs from DVR to DVD, July 27, 2008

By 

Dokusentia (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Philips DVDR3390 DVD Player/Recorder w/ DivX (Electronics)

I recently purchased the Philips DVDR3390 due to the low selling price and brand name. I also have a Philips brand DVD player and Plasma TV.

Before buying, I read countless reviews on Amazon about this DVD-R and learned a few things. Before I recorded a single frame, I visited Philips online and downloaded the latest firmware upgrade. After burning it to CD-R and playing it in the DVD-R, the upgrade completed.

I used Verbatim DVD+R discs to burn the programs off my DVR and 80+ hours of burning later, I have not encountered a single burn issue.
I have not used the player to edit programs, burn to DVD-RW discs or change the auto-generated menus, just "burn, finalize and go."

After playing back several of the burned discs on other DVD players, for what I require of it, I can safely say that I am rather pleased with the Philips DVDR3390. :)

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pile of Junk with a Mind of it's Own, May 8, 2008

By 

L. Bradshaw (Fort Worth, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Philips DVDR3390 DVD Player/Recorder w/ DivX (Electronics)

This might be the biggest pile of electronic junk I have ever bought, and I have bought a LOT of electronics. This thing powered up but that's about the extent of it. It NEVER functioned properly...stopping recordings on it's own in the middle of a recording, saying disc was not recordabe...then recording on it (for a while) before stopping the recording in the middle of the show! I trashed a boat load of DVD's trying, praying, hoping this machine would come through but it was a dog that never performed one trick...except maybe play dead.